The Opelousas courier., 1887-10-15

of who he was and what had brought
him into the neighborhood. The las
seen of the dog was when Clarke rode
up to the house. Prince halted 500 feet
away and began, but after a few minutes
his noise ceased and no more was seen oil
heard Of him.
At 10 o'clock, with the storm still
raging, Capt. Clark went to bed. There
were two rooms in the house, with
bed in each room, and he had the front
room. While he did not by any mean
like the looks of the pair, he had nc
suspicious that they intended him harm.
He was we'll armed. "a brave man, and he
did not intend 20 Sleep too %soundly.
There was neither lock nor catch on his
door, and he kept it closed by placing
a light stand against it. He had gone
to the door and whistled for Prince be-
fore removing his clothes, but the dog
had in no manner responded. Never
theless, the Captain was only fairly In
bed when the dog came to the outer
door, snuffed about for a minute, and
then set up a bowling. The master got
up to let him in, but he ran away. 1t
now seemed quite certain that Prince
was mad, and the Captain made up his
mind to shoot him the first thing in the
morning.
II was just getting to Sleep" he ex-
planned, "when the dog returned again.
l heard him sniff about the door, and
pretty soon he howled again, but very
softly this time. 1t was a sort of wall,
and it made me shiver. 1t struck me
that there was y note of warning in it, but
Twas vexed and out of patience with
Prince, and / determined to give him no
further attention. He was off in O.
minute or two, and after thinking over
the matter for a quarter of an hour l
fell asleep. 1t was after midnight when
/ was awakened. The dog had his nose
at the bottom of the door, and was
bowling loud enough to scare the dead.
Ny first thought was to get up and shoot
him, but as I heard a movement in the
next room /. hesitated for a moment.
| heard the man walk across the floor
in his bare feet and open the
back door and 60 out. No doubt he
had gone to drive Prince away, and I
settled back in bed and thanked him for
it. The dog ran off but though I
listened long and i~ntently I did not hear
the man return. I did hear something
between a groan and q shout, but sup
posed he had cried out to the dog. The
storm was over now and the light of the
moon flooding into the room, and as |
turned over to woo sleep again my face
was toward the door, and / saw that the
door was ajar. l rose up on my elbow
to get q better look, and at that instant
the door was pushed further open and
in came the woman. She had a light
axe in her hands, and no sooner had she
made out that | was awake than she
sprang forward and struck at me with
all her might. had no time to study
or calculate, but evaded the blow by
instinct. She struck at my head, 3nd 1
drew myself downward, with only an
inch CT two to spare. fAtFthe blow fell I
twisted myself out5of bed, and before
the woman could strike again l had her.
q, weigh 165 pounds, and there are few
AMEN who can lay me on my back, but l
.ttell you | had to exert myself to conquer
that woman She had muscle and pluck,
and it was not until / got a good hold
on her throat that she wilted. Our
struggle lasted fully five minutes, and
during all that time Prince was at the
door barking and growing in the most
furious manner. Ihad just worstad thes
woman when the dog came in by way of
the back door, and he would have killed
her if Talad not restrained him. I told
him to stand guard, and then proceeded
to strike 4 light and dress me
81 couldn't unde s ;and what had be-
come of the husband. With the light in
one hand and my revolver in the other,
| inspected the back room, but he was
not there. I had heard him pass out,
and why had he not returned2 Hooked
out of the back door, and the mystery
was explained. There lay the man on
the broad of his back, feet drawn up and
arm extended, and he was dead. +
could Sc, no wound, and / knew that no
pistol had been fired. After hesitating
a bit, / seized hold of him and turned
him over, and there in his back, driven
clear up to the hilt, was a knife. I did
not attempt to pull it out, but returned
the choking and was sitting up, but
would permit no further move.
Her hair hung down about her body, and
added to this was the TACT that her face
was all blood. Taken altogether, she
was about as hard a sight as / had eyer
seen. / had no sooner entered the room
than she began to curse and revile me,
using the most awful oaths and indulg-
ing ii the most terrible threats.
1T was not until daylight, that / had
q safisfaetnru e~xnlanafinn The nna,.,lo